U.S. military's new focus on Asia becomes clearer

New York Times

Published 9:35 pm, Saturday, November 10, 2012

WASHINGTON — Last November, President Barack Obama stood before the Australian Parliament and issued a veiled challenge to China's ambitions in Asia: “As a Pacific nation, the United States will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future.” A year later the details of his pledge — along with a U.S. military buildup in the Pacific — are emerging.

This summer, 250 U.S. Marines, the first of 2,500 to be deployed to Australia, trained with the Australian army near the port city of Darwin and with other militaries in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Next spring, the first of four U.S. littoral combat ships, fast new vessels meant to keep a watch on the Chinese navy, is to begin a 10-month deployment in Singapore.

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The U.S. is strengthening its alliances and expanding its military exercises in the region. In an amphibious warfare drill on Guam in September, which did not go unnoticed in Beijing, Japan's Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Marines “retook” a remote island from an unnamed enemy.

As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta heads off this weekend for his fourth trip to Asia in 17 months, criticism is intensifying among defense policy experts in Washington that the administration's “pivot” to the Pacific remains mostly verbal — a modest expansion and repackaging of policies begun in previous administrations, although still enough to unnecessarily antagonize the Chinese.

Panetta, who will travel to Australia, Thailand and Cambodia ahead of a trip to the region by Obama this month, will promote what the Pentagon prefers to call a rebalancing in the region, with these main elements:

Troop increases: The U.S. has 320,000 troops in the Pacific region, and the Pentagon has promised there will be no reductions as troops are drawn down in Afghanistan and other parts of the world.

More military exercises: The U.S. has not only increased the number of exercises but also opened them up to more countries: a powerful message to China that America is working to improve the capabilities of the militaries in its strategic backyard.

More ships: Panetta has said that by 2020, the United States will have 60 percent of its ships in the Pacific and 40 percent in the Atlantic, compared with the current 50-50 split.

Strengthened military ties: The Pentagon's efforts to shore up alliances and increase military cooperation with allies in Asia has prompted negative reactions from China.
More attention to Asia: One measure of the region's growing importance is that Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now hold a secure one-hour video conference every other week with the top commander for Asia and the Pacific, Adm. Samuel Locklear III.